Can Al Franken save talk radio

Jewsweek ^ | 2-26-03 | Benyamin Cohen

[SJackson]

Can Al Franken save talk radio?

Jewish philanthropists have tapped Al Franken to be the liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh. Can he rise to the occasion?

by Benyamin Cohen

February 25, 2003

		CAN FRAKEN MAKE SENSE: Jewish philanthropists have tapped the Jewish comedian to lead a new liberal talk radio network.

Al Franken is good enough, smart enough, and, doggone it, people like him. Especially Anita and Sheldon Drobny. The Jewish philanthropists from Chicago have given money to all sorts of causes -- abused children, Bill Clinton's campaign, and Jewish studies programs including the R'fa-aye-nu Society's efforts to preserve Judaica hidden during the Holocaust.

And now they're forking over $10 million to start a liberal talk radio network which would star liberal Jewish comedian and political activist Al Franken. It hopes to enlist other well-known entertainers with a liberal point of view for a 14-hour, daily slate of commercial programs that would heavily rely on comedy and political satire.

		Shifting Right?

"... Think of it as NPR on steroids. While conservatives tend to be men with Manilow in their turntable, the new network will hope to plug into the liberal leaning college co-ed crowd ..."

What Franken and company will have that other liberal endeavors don't is an actual network, and that means an organizational structure. It's that kind of structure that is absolutely necessary for liberal voices to find a lasting place in the broadcast pantheon, along with a core audience and a healthy share of cross-over marketing.

That is, after all, the model used by conservatives when they slowly built up the Fox News network and monopolized talk radio. Nobody woke up to find CNN in decline and conservative figures like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly dominating the ratings. Instead, conservatives who were incensed over a perceived liberal bias in the media did what they do best: build a grassroots network that slowly funded a conservative alternative.

If history is any indication, the Drobnys will fail miserably in their mission. Attempts at liberal talk -- both on television and radio -- have been abysmal failures. Just this week, MSNBC canceled the liberal leaning program by talk show veteran Phil Donahue after six months of poor ratings.

The political talk show format has yet to prove -- and may never -- that it can support a liberal voice, says Andrew Tyndall, head of ADT Research, a television news consulting firm. Donahue's chances weren't helped by MSNBC's impatience, he says. "They're very quick to cancel shows," Tyndall says. "Right from the start, they haven't settled on a format and let it grow so people can find it. If it's not working in a few months, they cancel it and move on to something else."

Thus far, liberal forays have been limited to single programs, like Donahue's just cancelled show. With a full-funded network, all Franken will need is a growing number of liberals to listen to him and then help him get on the air in more places. Assuming the network lasts, and the grassroots organization can build a critical momentum (especially among the left-leaning Jewish community), there's nothing to stop this new initiative from succeeding. Whether those things line up is a big question mark.

What isn't a question mark is Franken himself, and that's where he becomes the lynch pin of the idea. Franken is a well-established politico with a solid track record both in comedy and commentary. He's stumped for Al Gore, popped up on just about every talk show you can think of, and is slated to be a regular guest on Bill Maher's new HBO series. Add in his books and other achievements and you've got a serious case of street cred in the media world and political universe. He's also got a distinctive and recognizable style with a following to match. That he can bring aboard those fans and use word-of-mouth to grab more is in little doubt.

And that is exactly what the new network is counting on.

"We believe this is a tremendous business opportunity," says Atlanta radio executive Jon Sinton. Sinton, who would be the new network's chief executive, adds, "There are so many right-wing talk shows, we think it's created a hole in the market you could drive a truck through. We want to take an issue and make it funny and engaging. Our intent is to engage and entertain as a way to enlighten, engage in skit comedy, parody, political satire."

Think of it as NPR on steroids. While conservatives tend to be men with Manilow on their turntable, the new network will hope to plug into the liberal leaning college co-ed crowd. Already in unison protesting a potential war with Iraq, Franken will provide these legions with a voice. Plus, the expected Hollywood backing will add glitz to the glory.

However, more than just the man and the message, the medium itself may present a problem. It's a fact: College kids do not listen to talk radio. Old white men do.

That doesn't seem to stop the Drobnys from channeling their fund to this project. "I feel like there's a monologue out there," Ms. Drobny says. "I just had this tremendous feeling with great passion that we had to make sure we're heard and make sure having a dialogue in this country of ours."

Communications specialist Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who was involved in a study of talk radio in the mid-1990s, said the conservative radio audience is easier to attract and mobilize because right-wingers usually view liberals as way off the political spectrum.

And it also doesn't hurt that there are more people in polls who identify themselves as conservative than as liberal. "The search for the liberal equivalent of Rush Limbaugh may be misunderstanding how Limbaugh starts from a natural advantage," said Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "His audience is already polarized. The liberals don't need a host, they need a different audience."

Franken unplugged
Regardless of whether or not a liberal talk radio network will succeed, the question remains: Is Franken the man for the job? For those in the know, the resounding answer is yes.

Al Franken is more than just the sum of his parts. More than merely a former Saturday Night Live star with some mediocre films to his credit, Franken hails from the top tier of comedian intelligentsia, the kind who parlay the obvious into the obscenely amusing.

Take this recent remark he made on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. When asked what he thought the big story of 2003 would be, he wryly replied, "I think the big story, I'm gonna go out on a limb on this, might be the war in Iraq. I think that might be a very, very big story to watch for the next year."

For his part, Franken, who caused an uproar with his best-selling book Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, feels that it's time for a liberal alternative. "My audience is going to come," he says. "It would be a different kind of show. But I would definitely try to answer the Rushes and the Hannitys. But I refuse to do it by cheating and distorting."

Franken will also be in a good place to debunk one of the more pervasive of media myths: that it's all a bunch of liberals. While it's true that many reporters in the field lean to the left, it's become more than obvious over the past couple of years that the media has gone screeching to the right.

The rise of Fox News and the resurgence of media figures like Pat Buchanan and Alan Keyes on MSNBC, along with CNN's scramble to win over the conservative viewers have left many in the liberal establishment scratching their heads. But Franken is a die-hard liberal, and with a microphone in front of him, he could lead a new insurgency to help balance out what the audience hears.

After all, where better to counter the conservative media push of recent years than in their own backyard of talk radio, where Republicans and Libertarians have held a virtual monopoly.

So, can Franken single-handedly be the one-man savior of talk radio, sweeping in on a liberal vine and swiping away the mike from the conservatives? Well, delusions of grandeur have never been far from his mind. In his 2000 book, Why Not Me? The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency, the comedian explores what a presidential run by him would look like.

In the book, he dreamed of picking the Modern Orthodox Joe Lieberman months before Gore had the idea. "Part of the premise of the book is that I have an entirely Jewish cabinet, so if you're going to pick a Jew to be your running mate, Lieberman was sort of the only choice. I guess [California senator] Dianne Feinstein, but I picked Lieberman to balance the ticket, because I'm a Reform Jew."

Irreverent? Yes. Marketable? Well, time will tell.

Jewsweek's Bradford R. Pilcher contributed to this article.

[CyberCowboy777]

To: editor@jewsweek.com

Concerning:
“Can Al Franken save talk radio?”
By Benyamin Cohen

Mr. Cohen and his subjects act as if talk radio is in trouble. The fact is, "Liberal Talk Radio", is in trouble.
Normal, non-subsidized talk radio is quite healthy and vibrant. Saved originally not in any small part by Rush, using a formula of speaking for the majority, not too.

Also, you might know that the conservative movement is growing younger. The growing numbers of college students and young adults that listen to talk radio are apart of the still larger growth of the conservative movement. This is fuelled by the factual and perceivable failings of the left especially and the Democratic Party.

The left have started the failed wars, they have not stood against and worse pandered too dictators and evil persons, they have failed to recognize what even JFK knew to be true - tax cuts work, lastly the left forgot.... that character matters.

The left can play hide and seek with their image all they want, history is working against them.

Keath Huff

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Oy!

[CyberCowboy777]

Bump

[skinkinthegrass]

Very Funny...FACT : Rush saved talk radio...will make a very large fortune into a small fortune, Dumb...1 year MAX. :)

[Mike Darancette]

The DemocRATS have it wrong again, as usual, the success of an enterprise like FOX News is not the individual talent but the organization behind them.

It they have a person with the savvy of a Roger Ailes to run their new network then they might (though unlikely) have a shot.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

You go girl!!

"Pretty lady gone do that dance, pretty lady gone do dat dance (C'mon now!)"

[Pompah]

The real question is, Can Talk Radio save Al Whats-his-name.?

[Moby Grape]

I agree that the organization behind Fox has helped Fox attain its' place in the ratings, BUT, the FACT that it is NOT the usual liberal slanted news media is the REAL reason.

[SerpentDove]

[Slyfox]

So there are some right wing college kids out there, they just don't make much noise.

What makes them so dangerous is that they vote, countering the illegal voters. Can't have that dontchaknow?

[HHFi]

I'm been in radio and radio syndication for over 25 years and currently write my own internationally-syndicated daily topical radio humor service, so I know a bit about this subject. My opinion: Franken will be lousy in radio. The line about the Iraq war that they quote to illustrate his brilliant wit is so lame, I wouldn't even use it on my service, and we send out five jam-packed pages of material a DAY!

To connect with a radio audience, you have to possess a voice that people like listening to, a personality they want to welcome into their homes every day, and the ability to discuss and defend your beliefs respectfully for hours at a time. Franken talks very slowly, his humor comes from an arrogant viewpoint, his delivery fairly drips with condescension, and he can't make an argument without attacking someone personally. Note that he couldn't even get through the title of his book about Rush Limbaugh without calling him a "big, fat idiot." And it's no accident that his most famous SNL bit was the "Al Franken Decade," which had the repetitive punchline, "Me...Al Franken."

IMHO, he's going to crash and burn very quickly. If he stays on the air more than six months, it will be because some rich liberals have too much money to flush away and no toilet handy.

[Nonstatist]

Mr. Cohen and his subjects act as if talk radio is in trouble. The fact is, "Liberal Talk Radio", is in trouble

Not really true. NPR is liberal talk radio and many lefties listen to it partly because it has no commercials. The fact that the taxpayer subsidizes is incidental to this fact.

Whatever Franken puts out will also have to compete with NPR. If he goes for mostly satire and skits 14 hrs a day, its going to get old quickly. In short ... this aint gonna work.

[Mike Darancette]

"Me...Al Franken."

Didn't Frankin do a skit on SNL where he said "I am a Communist"?

I found it believable.

[LADY J]

"Off topic: It never fails to amaze me that the people making the largest contribution in the fight against the Anti-bush, Anti-Republican, Pro-Israel forces are liberal Jews."

Also wondering about why this is so. If they keep bringing attention to this absolute fact - they will build a lot of resentment among main stream Americans.

[Plutarch]

...all this is a logical response to Campaign Finance Reform...

Bingo! Why, of course! Since CFR limits commercials, but not "media", re-direct the propaganda $$$$ to the creation of the medium itself. Instead of writing checks for commericals, write checks for the business losses of the media company. The other benefit, is that their "business loss" will be tax deductible, whereas their campaign contributions are not.

The Right will have no answer, as its conservative media invariably have terrific ratings and make scads of money, ergo, no tax benefit!

[Burkeman1]

Franken's show will consist of nothing more than the most vile and juevenile character assassication, cheap innuendo backed by no facts, and sneering self righteous sermonizing. And of course he will ridicule, belittle, and mock white men (especially southern white men) and Christians as they serve the same function to the modern Left that the "jew" served for Nazis ideology. Oh and look for a lot of charges of racism as well. The investors will know the show is a flop within three months but out of pride will keep it on for six.

[rpage3]

You want irreverent? See what this book, "Double Take - Politically Incorrect Limericks" by some body named Jaggero (which I read over the Xmas holidays) had to say about this turd (FRANKEN); it's a cheap and funny as heck book that also makes some great observations about BILL/HILL and a lot of their best buddies, politicians (ours), pop-culture (& Hollywood leftists - the book accurately predicted that Bill Maher will return on cable...) and society, in general. Check out their website here:

http://www.doubletakebook.com

I'll say this too, if this book had a liberal slant it would be hailed by the media as a pure work of art! A picture I took of a poster ad (in NYC) can be seen here:

http://home.nyc.rr.com/sandr/poster1.jpg


By the way, I sent this book as a gift to a few of my liberal "friends" last Christmas, I haven't heard from them since...makes me wonder!

[Bernard]

Al Franken would have a built-in audience. All the Donahue fans can tape a picture of Phil to the radio and listen to Al. That demographic by itself will mean a rating of .0000000000000001

The only other audience for this comes from NPR.

Actually, Al Franken isn't funny. Most of the skits he was in on SNL bombed. He's like the real-life version of the SNL skit of the two women doing the cooking radio show.

[Burkeman1]

One possible explanation for Jews being more "liberal" in their political views is history. All over Europe Jewish communual survival often depended on the protectin of a strong central government. Very often strong kings protected Jewish communities from local authorities. This of course backfired on occassin when kings would scapegoat them for various problems and expel them or restrict them in numerous ways. But strong central authority more often than not served to protect Jews from endemic Europeon anti semitism.

[CyberCowboy777]

The fact that no other Liberal Talk radio network has worked lends credence to the view (which I hold) that NPR would not exist if it were not for it being subsidized.

NPR is not a banner of how liberal talk radio can work, but a testament to how liberal talk radio is a idea doomed to failure.

I listen to NPR, the fact is, "Liberal Talk Radio", is in trouble. Without NPR "Liberal Talk Radio" does not exist and many of us are working to de-fund that.